Wednesday, November 23, 2005

The month of November

Catch up!

Tuesday, 1st:Today was okay, not too much to say. Went to work in the morning and then had class. I got off work around 5 and came home with not much to do. I finally decided to do some excercising so I went out around Foxridge for about 30 minutes of fast walking and jogging which was good. Then came back and had dinner and spent the evening working on organizing all of my hundreds of pictures from the summer and fall on my computer. I hope to be uploading them to the site sometime soon. :) Also had a fun Oreo time with the guys tonight. :) I guess that's about it.

Wednesday, 2nd:Also, not a ton going on today. Went to work at 7:30 and then I had an interview on campus with DCS at 9. It went really well and I really enjoyed talking with the interviewer and it seems like a pretty cool place to work. So, I was really excited about that. :) Then worked the rest of the day which was rather hard. I'm on a pretty difficult task right now that's wearing out my head, but I'm glad to be challenged, so thats cool. I also heard back from the Eastman company who I'm really excited about maybe working for. I got a second interview with them for Tuesday in Tennessee, so that should be interesting. I'm excited, though. :) Anyhow, I got off work at 5:30 and then scarfed down some dinner. At 6:30 was Awana which was okay tonight. Not the greatest ever, but I did have some fun. I got to talk to Liz for awhile in the parking lot afterwards. I've really missed talking with her, so it was very nice. :) Then came home and the whole neighborhood was black as night. I called Chris and apparently the power had gone out like two hours prior. So, I debated going over to Liz's at 10, but then decided that the house was dark and quiet and it would be a great prayer time. So, I went downstairs and fired up the fireplace to stay warm and did some good praying and thinking about some things for about 30 minutes. The time was good, but I hoped it would be longer. The other guys all started coming back around 10:30 or so. I had fun with them a little bit and then just went to bed early around 11:15 since it was a pain to see with candles.

Thursday, 3rd:Today was pretty good. I got up at 6, finally, and had a really nice morning. I finally had some desire for God so I had a really nice quiet time and some prayer which helped me to have such a better outlook today. :) God is always good. :) I've been encouraged by realizing that I need to live my life a lot slower. Not necessarily doing less, but when I do something I need to really focus on that and do it fully rather than always looking forward to the next thing when I'm doing something. I've developed a really bad habit of that which has manifested itself in many other ways. So I worked on that today and it went a little better. Work was okay...rather hard again, but I made it through. Class was boring, but I actually followed it and learned some today which was a first. I think it was the focus thing. :) I worked until 5:30 and then met Curt downstairs in my building at the grill. My company was sponsering some employee networking thing for pretty much anyone and buying drinks. It was pretty much like a happy hour for CRC people and some other miscellaneous people like Curt. :-P So we hung out there until about 7:30 and had a nice time. Then went over and picked up Monica and we three went to the cellar for dinner about 8:30. Had a really good sub and then we stayed and watched the Jugbusters play some bluegrass for awhile. Pretty cool. :) Curt and I left around 10:45 and I came on home and played with Shadow awhile and went to bed a little after 11:30.

Friday, 4th:Good day today. Got up early and had a nice morning and then went to work at 7:30. Work went really well and I got some good stuff done. Since I had done some overtime, I got off at 2 and then went to play golf at the Tech course. It was incredibly beautiful out this afternoon. :) I played 9 by myself and shot really well- 39 with only a couple mulligans. :P It was fun and went pretty quickly. I got out of there around 4:15, then came home and changed and then raced back to campus. I wanted to take pictures around campus while the trees were incredible this fall. So I speed walked around campus for about an hour an a half and got a ton of cool pictures before it got too dark out. Incredible sunset tonight, too. :) Then I picked up Kristin just before 6 and we went over to the Gobbler and met up with lots of Peeps for the pizza buffet dinner there. We had 9 of us there and it was a lot of fun and good food. Too much food! :P After dinner, we went back to my place to watch a movie. Before we went in, I jumped in a humongous pile of leaves that the grounds people had made and just got buried in them. That was way too much fun! :H We all ended up watched the first Indiana Jones movie which was fun. That ended and everyone left around 10:30. I stayed up a little longer and got to bed around midnight.

Saturday, 5th:Today was pretty fun. I was up at 6 and had lots of time for a good quiet time and prayer. :) Then I worked on a little picture project until about 11. I made a quick lunch and then I went and picked up Sean and Brad at 11:45 to go play golf at the Tech course. We teed off around 12:15 and had a fun time playing. The weather was incredible out again. It was great to see Sean again and Brad was a cool guy to meet. We played with another guy named Scott who was really nice too. I played pretty well the front 9 and shot a 41. The back 9 was a lot harder...we got stuck behind some slow groups and it dragged on forever and stuff. I shot a 46. Sean and Brad left 3 holes in, but me and Scott finished, finally around 4:45. I went home and crashed on the couch for awhile, I was so pooped. Then played darts with Steve and Chris downstairs and Curt came over to chill before the game. It was a good time. We ate a Tombstone pizza for dinner and then Curt and I headed off towards the stadium to watch the Hokies play Miami. We got there like 30 seconds after kickoff and had pretty high seats on the south side, but not horrible. The Hokies were horrible, though. The game was just plain terrible. Miami totally killed us every inch of the way. I was actually pretty happy to see us humiliated and send all those crazy fans home who have been tailgating since Wednesday home. bahaha! Well, Curt and I rode out the whole painful game, left and I got home a little before midnight. I stayed up for Sean a bit and then went to bed at like 12:45 when he wasn't back yet. He called me at 1:45 so I woke up to let him in and get them settled, then passed out again.

Sunday, 6th:It was a good day today. I woke up at 7 and had a good quiet time and prayer. Then started working on my homework which didn't go so well. I decided to go to Harvest today, so I picked up Kristin and we got over there around 11 for service. I'm so glad I went. There was this older man named Bob Hobson who was speaking and he was awesome. He was extremely funny and his message was really good and it was the first time in a long time that I've really felt into a sermon and excited. I was actually pumped to come back to evening service and hear him talk again! Now, that's a miracle! :P He spoke on Jesus living in us and through us through the Holy Spirit and all that it means and entails in our lives. Very cool stuff that I've never really thought a ton about or heard much teaching on. It was very exciting. :) After church, I went to Liz's and had lunch with her family. It was nice being with them for the first time in over two weeks. Me and Liz left around 2:30 and we headed up towards Wind Rock to talk. We didn't go all the way up the trail because it was packed, but we found a nice private place on some other rocks off the beaten path that was very nice. We sat there for a couple hours and had a really strong talk about or relationship and the direction we're headed, etc. It was a hard talk, but necessary. We left and made it back in time to get Kristin and go to evening service. Great sermon again. Then me, Liz and Kristin went after service to Goody's, Target and Wal-Mart looking for ties for me and a couple other things for Kristin. That was pretty fun and I found some good new ties for my interview. :) We got back from all that a little before 9. We had a little dinner, then Liz gave me a very much needed haircut. Turned out excellent. :) Liz and I talked some more on the porch after that which was nice to end the evening with. I felt pretty sure and peaceful after talking with her. Left about 12:15 and was to bed by 12:30

Monday, 7th:Woke up today at 6 and was pretty tired, but excited and peaceful about stuff. I think Pastor Bob really lit something off in my heart. :) I had a good quiet time and got to work at 7:30. Work went very well today and the day went very quickly. Liz came by near the very end of the day and that was exciting. :) After work, I went home and got into doing my homework. I quickly lost my good attitude about things because my homework was just going terribly. I just could not grasp the concepts for some reason. :-/ I tried to finish what I could and then Liz came over around 6:15 and she made us a quick dinner. We downed that quickly and then raced back to Harvest for service at 7. Pastor Bob was doing a series every night this week which I'm very excited about. :) It was great again tonight and very encouraging. I had a good talk with Liz in the parking lot afterwards and then hit the road around 8:30. I drove on down to Kingsport, Tennessee to spend the night for my interview with Eastman tommorow. The drive went really well and I had a nice chat with Steve C and I called Liz and talked for a little more with her too. :) I got to the hotel around 11 and checked in. The place was very nice. They put me up in their nicest Marriott hotel. It was like a resort hotel on a golf course. :P My room was very nice and the bed was way too comfy. I was out by 11:30.

Tuesday, 8th:Pretty busy day today. I slept great at the hotel and got up at 6. Then took about an hour getting all ready and looking good for my interview. Around 7, I went down for the hotel's buffet breakfast which was incredible. There was a TON of good food! :) I came back up, packed quick, and then checked out at 7:45 and raced over to the Eastman building and made it to the lobby at 7:58- just in time! :P There was a group of 5 of us interviewing today. Chris took us and did a little presentation and then we all split up and had 5 different interviews throughout the morning. I was a little nervous with the first one, but they all ended up going great and it was so exciting. The second man asked me what inspires me in the morning and I was scared, but I told him my relationship with God and he was like "me too!" and we talked about that, so that was awesome. :-) Really got me excited after that. The rest went real well and then I went out to lunch with the last guy, John. He was really cool and we talked about all sorts of stuff. Ended up he was also a Christian and played guitar in his churches praise band, so that was awesome. God was so good to me today and it was a great encouragement to have the interviews go so well. I got back from lunch around 1:30 and then twiddled around Kingsport a little bit before heading out around 2. The drive back went great and I got home around 4:15. Then got right into working from home for Phoenix to make up my hours. Liz came over around 6 and made us dinner, so I worked until about 6:30, ate and then we ran off to Harvest for Pastor Bob's sermon. It was very good again tonight and encouraging. Afterwards, we finally left around 8:30, but for some reason I had gotten a bad attitude and gotten really sad about me and Liz. :-( I couldn't overcome too well and it made my night really hard. I just worked on my computer until 11:45 and Liz stayed with me until about 10:30 so it was nice to have her. :) I got to bed a little after midnight.

Wednesday, 9th:I was super tired, so I just slept in until 7 and then got ready quick and went into work at 7:30. Work was kinda slow and hard today, but I made it through. Liz came by in the early afternoon which was a great encouragement today. I'd been feeling pretty lousy today and down about us. :-/ It was nice seeing her and then I finished off my work day around 3:30. Came home and got right to studying for my test tommorow. Liz came over around 5 and made some great dinner for us. We had a really nice talk over dinner and then headed out to Awana at 6:30. It was flashlight night which was pretty fun, but of course the kids were nuts! It was cool too because they let us go with the kids to listen to Pastor Bob's sermon tonight too and it was good as always. :) Got home from Awana around 8:45 and then spent the rest of the evening studying with Liz and she got some work done too. we had some fun talking and being goofy a little too which was encouraging. It was nice to have a little fun with her again. :) Had a fun Oreo time and the Liz left just after that, a little before 11. I stayed up and studied until about 11:30 and then was in bed by 11:45.

Thursday, 10th:Today was a nice day. I got up early and had a good quiet time and then did a small amount of cramming for my test. I had a great deal of peace today, which was awesome. God is good. :) Work went awesome. The test went terribly, but that's okay. The rest of work this afternoon went great also. I got off around 5:45 and then went over and met Liz, Curt and Steve W at Chinese Kitchen for dinner. That was lots of fun to hang with them. :) Liz and I went over to Harvest for Pastor Bob's sermon at 7 and it was great as always. I got back from that and came home and started working again around 9. Liz came over and did some homework with me. I worked online for two hours to make up the rest of my time from Tuesday. I got a few things done. Liz left a little after 11 and I got to bed about 11:45.

Friday, 11th:Today went okay for the most part. I was up at 6 and had a good morning before work at 7:30. Work today didn't go very well. It was just really hard and not very much fun. :-/ I finally got through the day by 3:30. Then came home and I called my parents. I was so thankful to them, I had an excellent talk with Dad for almost an hour and then talked to Mom for about 20 minutes. They really helped me think through my current issues with Liz and encouraged me a lot. :) It was very cool. When I was finally done, I realized it was like 5:15 and Peeps dinner was at 5! So, I went over to El Cabo Fish Taco around 5:30 and met Liz, Paul and Will there for dinner. We had a nice time and good food. :) Then I picked up Kristin on campus and we went over and met Liz at Harvest for Pastor Bob's final sermon. It was excellent. :-) It was such a blessing to have him here this week and I learned a lot of stuff. I can't wait to continue thinking about it and hopefully letting it change my heart! :) After service, we took Kristin back and then me and Liz went to Deet's and got some coffee and chocolate milk and had a strong talk about us and everything going on. I'm hopeful that it cleared the air a little bit and I really want to back off and give Liz some room to think and breathe. So it was a great almost 3-hour(!) long talk. :) I dropped her off at her car around 12:30 and then got home, talked with the guys for a bit and then was in bed around 1.

Saturday, 12th:Had a fun day today. Got up around 8 and had a good morning getting lots of things done around the house. Around 11 I went out to Target and Michael's briefly and then came on back and made some lunch. Got a few more things done in the early afternoon and then met Liz at 2:45 over at the VT golf course and we played 9 holes together. It started off okay but overall it kinda sucked. It was beautiful outside, but blah inside. For one, I played the worst golf I've played all year by far. For two, Liz and I had a little spat after the second hole which really overshadowed everything that followed. :-/ I was pretty frustrated and angry by the time we finished playing at 5. We went over to Kroger to pick up some grub and then went back to my place and made a good taco dinner and spent some time talking things out a little more, so that was good. :) I spent a little time later in the evening chatting with her downstairs too. I think Liz left a little after 10. Then I just hung out a bit and had a nice time with the guys. We had a late Oreo time but it was a lot of fun. Decided to start a quotes board in the kitchen which should be hilarious. :-P Then we decided around midnight that we should watch Spaceballs, so we did and it was amusing as always. :) That got over and I spent some more time chillin before going to bed around 2am or so.

Sunday, 13th:Woke up really tired today around 8:45. Just dragged around my room a little and then left to pick up Kristin for Sunday school around 9:30. I actually really enjoyed Sunday school this week. Barry taught today and I really appreciated his heart for the things he was teaching and all that he had to share. It was really nice. :) Service was okay. Liz and I were supposed to work in the nursery, but the Billingsleys were nice and took care of it for us. Service was okay. Rinker was here instead of the new pastoral candidate who apparently didn't work out. Rinker was decent today, but still hard for me. :-/ It was nice of him to come though. After service, I took Kristin back to campus and then I went over to Liz's house for lunch. It was Laura's birthday today so we had a nice little party for her which was fun. :) Happy 16th to Laurel! Around 4, Liz and I went for a walk up to the top of the big hill by her house and watched the sun go down. Had a good talk about stuff. I was feeling crappy today and needed to air some stuff, so I was thankful for her to talk to. :) It got cold after 5ish, so we went back to Liz's and talked a little more before I left around 6:30. Came back home, had leftover tacos and then worked on sorting some pictures on my computer and some other miscellaneous stuff around the house before I went to bed around 11:30.

Monday, 14th:Today was really lousy. I went to bed in not the best mood and woke up in an even worse mood. Not much of a morning and then went to work at 7:30. Work was hard and lousy today and we had like 3 hours of meetings which were sorta interesting, but meh. I got off at 3:30 and then went over to Wal-Mart to get a bunch of pictures printed. Killed the hour wait by going to the Post Office and sending back the engagement ring. :-( That was really hard and made me really sad today. :( Then went to Kroger and bought a bunch of food. Then back to Wal-Mart to buy more food and pick up my pictures. Then pictures turned out great and I got back home and spent about an hour putting them into a cool album. :) I had leftover taco salad for dinner around 6:30, but not before dumping it all over myself. :-/ Blah! Around 8, I decided that I felt like escaping so I watched Maverick for the next couple hours. Then had a pretty fun Oreo time with the guys. Decided that I was bored and didn't want to deal with my depression today, so I went to bed right around 11.

Tuesday, 15th:Today started off bad also. I tried to have a good morning and spent about 40 minutes trying to pray, but not having much success. My heart had just gotten really hard and sad and it was difficult to break through all of that. :-/ Went to work at 7:30 and then class midday. Class was not very good today. :( Then back to work and work went a little better but still not that great today. Just had a hard time with stuff. Got off work a little after 5 and then went home and made a scrumptous omelet for dinner. Finished up and then went out for a walk just after 6. Oh, Liz had come by work around lunchtime to say hi and it was so incredibly nice to see her today. :) It sparked something inside of me and really penetrated that hardness from earlier. So I had been thinking a lot this afternoon and then this evening I wanted more time to think and pray so I walked for about 45 minutes around the area. It was a beautiful evening and God really blessed by time and thoughts. It encouraged me a lot and helped me clarify some things in my mind I think. At 7, I went over to the Westman's for their dessert get-together. That was pretty nice and it was cool that we actually did some real fellowship for once at a group thing. :) I left there with Liz a little after 9 and we came back to my place and then took a walk around the area ourselves. I talked to her about a lot of stuff and it was really nice to enjoy some real time with her again. That's kind of the crux of the issue to begin with. I'm tired of thinking about marriage and everything else- I just want to be friends with Liz again. I feel like our friendship has been dying more and more for a few months now and it makes me really sad. I just want to get back to not just saying that we're best friends, but truely being best friends and feeling that emotionally. So, I hope we can get that back. It was a blessing to get to talk with Liz so much tonight and the weather was just incredible. It was warm and breezy and overcast outside with a few peeks of the full moon. Very memorable night as we sat on the Foxridge pond. :) We stopped talking and Liz left around 11:15. Chris rolled up just then and we went back to the house and grabbed Big Steve for a late, fun Oreo time. :) That was about it and I got to bed just before midnight.

Wednesday, 16th:Pretty nice day today. I got up at 6 and had a nice morning and then went to work at 7:30. Work went really well today and I got some good things done. It went quickly too, which was great. :) Before I knew it, I was off at 3:30. Came home and chilled for a bit and then started cooking dinner for Liz and I around 4:30. I was making some "quick lasagna" recipe that I like a lot with some green beans. It took a heck of a lot longer than 20 minutes to make, but I got it done eventually. Liz came over about 5:20 and we ate around 5:40. It was good and fun and great to have her over with me. :) We left around 6:15 for Awana. Awana was pretty fun tonight. I guess I didn't do all that much- I spent most of the time playing guitar with Matt in the kitchen, which was very cool. :) We played for the kids tonight too, which I got too nervous about and didn't do very well, but it was fun. :) After Awana, a bunch of us went over to Mill Mountain a little before 9 and grabbed some coffee. Had a fun time there talking with Matt and Pete. :) We all left around 10 and Liz and I came back to my place for awhile. We had some pumpkin pie and ice cream and then just chilled on the couch a bit and chatted. It was great being with her; I've missed it. :) Liz left around 11:30 and then I got to finally cleaning up my mess of dishes from dinner which took me until a little past midnight and I finally got to bed.

Thursday, 17th:Today was pretty fun. Got up early and had a good morning and then went to work. Work went okay and then class which was better than average, but still bad. Got out a little early and back to work. We had a company pizza lunch and then a very long meeting until 3. It was okay though. Then I worked my last two hours and got some good stuff done, came home around 5:15. Then warmed up some dinner and Liz made a surprise visit over here while I was eating. :-D It was awesome to be with her for a little while and I really appreciated her coming over. She left around 6:20 and Curt came over just after that and we headed downtown for the evening. Went to Sharkey's first for a couple hours and hung out and then went over to the Underground for a bit. It was a fun evening with him. :) Steve W came out for awhile at the Underground and we played some darts and stuff. Good times. I think we left there at like 11:45. Got back and me, Chris, and Steve had a midnight Oreo time to lead into Thanksgiving break. It was a lot of fun. We stayed up a little while talking and then pranking Big Steve. :P Fun night. I got to bed around 1.

Friday, 18th:Had a very nice day today. I was pooped from last night, so I dragged out of bed around 7, ate some breakfast and was at work by 7:30. Work went great today. The day went by quickly and I got a lot of stuff done on my project. :) Got off at 3:30, came on home and started packing some stuff up and just getting ready for the week at home ahead. Liz came over around 4:30 to be with me and she just hung out while I packed and did stuff. Around 5:15, we went down to the couch and had a really nice Bible study with her in Isiah for about 45 minutes. I was so glad we got to do that and hope that I can lead us to get back spiritually where we need to be as a couple. :) We left for our date around 6:15 and we to Soulvaki's for what we hoped would be a quick dinner. It took them awhile to make our food because they were busy, so we had to scarf it down when we got it, but the part I tasted was really good! :P We got out of there just after 7 and raced over to the Lyric to watch the new Wallace and Grommit moie which was supposed to start at 7. We got there about 8 minutes late and missed the preview and the film started like 2 minutes later. Just in time! :) I enjoyed the movie pretty well for the most part. It was fun and creative and there was even a lot of action. It lasted until about 8:30. Liz and I had a little tuffle about some of the content in it, so we went back to my place and spent some time trying to work that out which wasn't too fun, but good practice, I suppose. Then she chilled around and I finished up my packing and stuff. Then we had another turn of events and she got really sad about a project she was having difficulty with so we spent a lot of time talking through that and I tried to encourage her as much as I could. We had some of her pumpkin pie and ice cream a little later too which was nice and then just got to talk some more about stuff. Liz and I parted a little after 11 and then I cleaned up a little and went to bed at 11:30.

Saturday, 19th:Today kinda came and went without too much going on. I got up at 6 and finished some packing and then went to Kristin's dorm at 7. We ate Cinnabons together which were oh so good and she also bought me a cheese bagel, which ended up actually being a cheddar and jalapeno bagel. :P That was rather funny and I helped her finish packing and loaded her stuff up in my car. Then we went back to my place and grabbed Shadow and then hit the road for home just after 8:00. The drive went really well, there wasn't too much traffic and I had a nice time with Kristin and Shadow. :) We got home around 12:15, unpacked and stuff. I passed out for about 40 minutes- I was so tired. Then had lunch with Mom which was nice to be with her and chat a bit. :) At 3, I started working on my computer to put in hours for this coming week so that I don't have to work Thankgiving and stuff. Plus, I was rather bored, so I was glad to get some stuff accomplished on my project tonight. I worked until dinner at 7:15 and we had some good tacos and stuff. :) Started working again 30 minutes later and worked until 9:30. Then we all watched the movie Cable Guy which was okay. It was pretty stupid and trashy, but had its funny moments too. That lasted awhile and then I got to bed around 11:30.

Sunday, 20th:I had a decent day today. I slept through my alarm and woke up just in time at 7:30 to take a quick shower and run off to make RBC church service at 8:15. Church was pretty nice today. Mike spoke about humility in life which was really good to hear about. I really need to work on keeping myself humble, especially before God. I got home from church around 10 and then spent some time playing on my computer. Mom made us all a big Sunday brunch which was awesomely good and we all ate together. :) At noon, I started working again on my work project and got a few good things done on it. I worked until 4, then packed a couple things and headed out the door for Maryland. I drove way out to Lexington Park on the Chesepeake Bay for an interview with DCS tommorow. The drive went pretty well, but I had a very hard time having a good attitude. Everybody just drives like crap around here. I was doing 70 in the right lane of the 55mph beltway and I was totally getting blown off the road. :-/ Ah well. It calmed down a little once I got close to Lexington Park. Also, there was lots of trees and space around which was mighty encouraging. :) I checked into my hotel room around 6:15, then called up Liz and I drove off in search of some good seafood along the water. I had a nice talk with Liz as I drove around. I drove and drove and drove, most of the time through the boondocks and woods and I wasn't finding anything. :-/ After 40 minutes, my car was very low on gas and I wasn't finding anything, so I turned around and came on back. Talked with Liz the whole way, which was grand. I finally got to fill up (16.2gallons/16capacity!!). Then drove across the river and finally found some nice places to eat along the bay in a place called Solomon's Island. I picked the wrong restraunt. It was called Lighthouse Inn and it was VERY NICE. They had lots of seafood, but it was all like $30 or $40 a plate! I didn't want to leave in protest, so I got the cheapest $18 seafood pasta plate which was very good also. Great atmosphere too, it was a nice place. :) I finished up my dinner around 8:15 and then got back to hotel and started working at about 8:45. I got a good two and a half hours in before my brain gave out and I went to bed around 11:30. It was a fun night in Lexington Park. It seems like a decent place to live, so I was encouraged. :)

Monday, 21st:Today was a good day. I woke up at 6 and took a lot of time to spend with God in prayer and read some stuff in my Bible for awhile too. I really needed that a lot, I've been missing time with God a lot lately. So, I was encouraged. :) Then spent awhile cleaning up and getting ready for my interview this morning. I scarfed down some quick breakfast and then left for the interview with DCS. I got there a little before 9 which was good and then got to the interviewing. I talked with a very nice HR lady for awhile which was a lot of fun. Then I talked with a project manager and he was pretty nice and showed me some cool stuff. Then I talked with another woman who was another manager of some sort and I had a nice time with her. After her, I had an interview with three software developers at once and that was a little harder and intimidating but I think I did okay. Then I talked with one more lead software guy who I liked a lot and was really nice. All told, I was done with the interviews a little after 11:30, which was awesome because I was told they were going to last until 2:30. :) I changed and then went to Quiznos and grabbed a good sub for lunch. I headed out of town around 12:30 and had a good drive back. It was raining pretty hard, so that made it a little exciting, but nothing too bad. I got home in two hours, unpacked and then started work for the day at 3. I finally figured out my algorithm for work after a couple hours and then got to testing stuff. Of course, it started breaking. :-/ Oh well. Had a nice dinner with the fam tonight and then got back into working for the evening. I've had a lot of stuff act weird and crash, so its kinda sucked and I haven't made hardly as much progress as I had wanted to. :( Blah. I worked until 11:30 to get my eight hours and then went to bed around 11:45.

Tuesday, 22nd:Pretty much nothing today. I got up around 7 and started work at 7:30. I worked hard until a little before 2. I had to go to the ear/nose/throat doctor to get my weirdness checked out. Me and Mom drove over there and then I waited over an hour past my appointment time which was annoying. Then, it only lasted like 10 minutes, the lady wasn't very nice and she essentially told me I'm fine. I'm blatantly not fine! My ears feel like crap. :-( So that was a useless waste of time and money. Got back a little after 4 and I started working again. I had a lot to do and was on a roll so I just worked all evening with a little stop for dinner. All told, I worked 11.5 hours today. Ugh! I got lots done though, so that was good. Went to bed a little after 11:00 tonight.

Wednesday, 23rd:Today was allright. Woke up around 7:30 and then worked from 8-6. I finally got just about everything finished up on the equation parsing project. That was a relief. :) Had some dinner and then a bit after 7 I went over to Tim's house to hang out with him and Tony. We chilled there for awhile chatting and watching the Caps game which was pretty fun. At the second intermission, we went to Shoppers for Tim to load up and then went to Tony's friend, Robbie's place. He wanted to go out and play pool, so we went over to Bungalo Billiards. Little did we know that they were doing a Thanksgiving bash. It was so crowded and loud and a band was about to go on and stuff. I guess this was around 10:00 or so. It was crazy and there was no chance we were going to get a pool table. We had to pay a $5 cover charge each to get in, but then we wanted to leave within 5 minutes and they wouldn't give us our money back. We were standing there talking about what to do next for another 5 minutes and then the lady decided that she would be nice and give us our money back. So, that worked out well. :) We just went back to Robbie's and chilled there. Got some pizza and watched a few Family Guys. It was pretty fun. I left there with Tim around 12:30, then got back here and went to bed around 1am. Oh yeah, and we had some pretty hard snow fall tonight. It didn't stick on the roads but it came down heavy for awhile while I was out there driving and we probably got an inch on the grass and cars. Kinda cool. :)

Thursday, 24th:Turkey Day! I was very thankful for today because it was a nice day off and a break from work. I slept in until about 10:30 (!), then checked email, showered and stuff. Around 11, I decided that I really wanted to spend some quality time with God like I haven't done in a long time. Big on my mind was the idea of confession which I can't remember the last time I did that. I had trouble starting off, so there first hour or so I just spent thinking, read some Psalms and read some good Proverbs too. Around 12:30 I decided that I needed more privacy and I was tired of being inside, so I went off hiking in the woods behind my house. I sat down by the creek for a long time and had a great time praying. I really worked on confessing my sins from the heart and it was really awesome to see what God did inside of me. He really encouraged me a lot and helped me to remember a lot of stuff I had forgotten. :) After an hour or so of that, I got up and walked around Sugarland on the bikepaths for a long time and just spent the whole time trying to think of things I could be thankful for and worship God with them. That was a lot of fun and encouraging also. :) I got back home around 3, helped Mom a little making dinner, then watched some football/napped before the feast. We had Thankgiving dinner at 5:30 and it was awesome. :) Massive tons of good food. MMM!! :-H So, that was very cool and then around 7 I called my lovely Liz to see how she was. We talked for almost an hour and then my Mom called, so I figured that I should go because she didn't know where I was. :P I was outside freezing talking to Liz to get reception. :P Then Steve C called and I talked to him for a little while. Good to keep in touch with him. :) Around 8:30 we all watched a movie together- War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise. I liked it pretty well for the most part. Some parts were a little silly and unbelievable but I was entertained overall. We did that and had some good cake. Got over a little before 11, then I spent some time and prayer and got to bed about 11:30.

Friday, 25th:Good day today. I woke up like 5 minutes before 8:00 and then just rolled downstairs and started working. :P I kinda like that. Worked from 8-4, finished up one project and got a little start on the next one, which was good. After work, I spent a little over an hour having a good quiet time and prayer time. I finished up my study in Song of Solomon and it was just a nice time with God. :) I chilled about for a little after that and then at 7, went over and met Justin W and Rob for dinner. We went out to Uno's which was very good but super pricey. After that, we went out to Hard Times to shoot pool for the evening. It was crazy, there were so many people there! We ran into Alan and his friend that I knew from long ago, we saw three other guys that we used to work with at Lowes, and then saw a couple other random people from high school. Crazy. :) We all had a fun time playing pool and chatting for about three hours there. I think we left around 12:30. We went back to Justin and Rob's apartment and chilled a little bit before I left around 1:15. I was wiped, got home and was asleep by 1:30.

Saturday, 26th:It was nice to have another day off today. I got up pretty late, like 10 I think. Then had some good quiet time. Started into working on my homework about 11 and got a little done. Then Tony called and wanted to get lunch, so I went and met him at the mall around 1 and we got some scrumptous Great Steak. :) Walked around the mall together for awhile and then went back to my house to watch a movie. We decided on A Time to Kill which ended up being a pretty good flick. We watched that until a little before 6 and then Tony went home for dinner. I called Liz after dropping him off and talked for well over an hour. It was a really good talk about some serious stuff. I drove around while I talked to her and then finally just parked at Kohl's for awhile. :P We finally decided to part and I went home and grabbed some pizza real quick before heading out with Tony again around 7:45. We went over to Dub and Rob's apartment to chill and watch the Hokies game. Had a pretty nice time there with a bunch of people. I think we left around 11:30. I was tired and went to bed before midnight.

Sunday, 27th:I was so ready to go back to Blacksburg today. I woke up around 7:30 and actually spent like an hour having a good quiet time. :) It was cool, but then I realized I needed to pack up, so I got all my stuff together and ready to go. Mom made us a great big breakfast before we left. :) Kristin and I left around 10:15 and had a nice drive back. Not too much going on with 81. Thankfully we left early enough. We got into town around 2:30, dropped off Shadow and then went to Kroger to get food for us and then unpacked Kristin and helped take her stuff to her dorm. Then spent some time unpacking and organizing myself. Liz wanted me to come over, but I was feeling tired and down, so I waited and relaxed a little while. I think I finally got over to Liz's place a little after 5. It was very nice to see her. We spent some time talking and then made a quick dinner together and talked some more. Then went downstairs and I worked on my homework while she did her piano composition. Got to talk a little more later on. Was a nice night with her. :) I think I left late, like a little after midnight or something. :P

Monday, 28th:Ugh, back to work. Today was painful. Weird crap kept breaking at work and it was just a really hard day to try and survive. Thankfully, I made it through. I got off work at 4:30, came home for a little bit and then went over to Liz's. I spent the evening with her as she did homework and I worked on some finance stuff. We got to spend some time starting into studying our pre-engagement booklet together and that time was really nice. :) Oh, and she had made me a pecan pie yesterday which was awesome, so we got to have some more of that tonight. :-D Ate a nice dinner with her family also. So, a pretty good night and I left earlier and was to bed a bit before midnight.

Tuesday, 29th:Work was better today. Class was dull. Work finished up at 5 and I went over to Liz's for dinner and stuff around 6. Dinner was good and Liz had lots of work again tonight. I spent a lot of the evening researching more job openings and also doing a lot of research on Sperry Marine for my interview tommorow. Around 9:30, I got back together with Liz and we read and talked about our booklet some more. Had a really fun time chatting with her tonight; it felt like old times a little. :-) We talked for too long and I left a little after 11 and got to bed at 11:30 or so.

Wednesday, 30th:My big interview day today. I was up at 6 and spent a lot of time getting clean and ready. I left later than planned, just before 7:30. Then right when I was about to get on 81, there was a sign on 460 that said there was an accident on 81 in my direction. So, that sucked and I jumped off on 11 to bypass it all. It took a while longer, especially with all the road work, but I got past the accident. I'm glad I took that way too because it was so beautiful! The sun was rising over the mountains and it really made me smile. :) I had to make up lost time, so I drove a little fast the rest of the way, but it was a great drive and very encouraging. I had some good thinking, praying and worshipping time. One thing I realized is how much I love Virginia. It would be very hard for me to take a job elsewhere. There's so much I love about this state. :) I also realized, from the Third Day lyrics, "I believe, for that makes me what I am", just how much I should be proud of my identity in Christ. So often, I feel scared of expressing it or I cower when people bring up God. But, no, it is as much a part of me as anything else in my life. In fact, God has made me what I am and made all the other parts of my life. It was quite a realization and is just a hugely different way of thinking on life. Anyhow, so I got to Charlottesville around 9:45 which was perfect. I had some time to chill and then went in at 10:00 and filled out the application paperwork. I saw a old, fat bearded guy come in to interview for Santa Claus while I was there. :-P The interviews began at 10:30. I talked to six different people throughout the day and got a couple of tours around the plant. It all went really well. I enjoyed the people I talked with, and had a nice time with them. The work there seems really interesting and they seem pretty interested in me for doing it. So, I'm really excited about this possibility and excited about the area of Charlottesville. :) I went out to lunch with one of the interviewers, Shaun, who was rally nice. He ended up also being a Christian and we talked about Awana and stuff which was pretty encouraging to me. :) I also realized today some stuff about my career and computer science. I think I could be happy and a programmer if I had some really interesting work to do. It seemed like a lot of the stuff at Sperry was interesting and that the people there enjoyed what they did. That encouraged me a lot. :) Anyhow, so the interviews lasted until about 2:45 and I hit the road on back to Blacksburg. Had a nice, smooth, beautiful drive on back home. I got there around 5:15. Then unpacked, chilled a bit and made some dinner before heading over to Awana a little after 6:30. There's not much going on at Awana this time of year, so I just brought my guitar and played most of the time, some of the time with Matt. I helped take the trailer kids home at 8:30, which is always an adventure, but I enjoyed talking with Barry. We got done at little after 9, and then I went back to my place. I spent some time relaxing and then had a fun Oreo-time with everyone but Big Steve. So, we tried to play a prank on him by tying the "gun" on the sink so that it would shoot out when he turned the main water on. I forgot about it from habit and it actually ended up getting me! :-/ The rubber band broke before we could get Steve. :( Good times. I was to bed after that around 11:30.